Saturday I did an out and back ride. After mile 10 I turn due east and it is a few miles @ 4%. Heat came on fast and the slight grade watt requirement... well 3 miles and my sweat band got overcome and flooded my contacts.

So I decided it was getting too hot too fast and I should have let out earlier. So I stop, mop, and turn back. I did not realize I had a tail wind since the eat direction change.

So between the now 4% grade down hill, and a nice well appreciated fan cooling me straight in the face, I cooled off in 2 miles soft pedaling.

Seldom do I appreciate a headwind.. But the temp was right @ the cusp I guess.

KerryIronsJoined: 12 Jan 2004
Posts: 2940
Location: Midland, MI

7/30/18 2:59 PM

Walking to school

Barefoot, in the snow, uphill both ways. Now we know how it works.

lrziprisJoined: 04 Mar 2004
Posts: 411
Location: Doylestown, PA

7/31/18 9:30 AM

I've always insisted that tailwind is an urban myth.

SparkyJoined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 16861
Location: Portland, OR

7/31/18 10:49 AM

Urban myth eh? Land a plane at stall speed with a mythical tail wind that stops suddenly.

On the bike, and here with gorge in proximity with serious winds that make it pretty far inland... Usually my out is both with a slight grade [3-4] but with a headwind. When the out turn to the back, I can tell when I match the now tail wind, and it get quiet when I equal it. Where as I hear it at stops facing into it. ;)

daddy-oJoined: 12 Apr 2004
Posts: 3235
Location: Springfield

7/31/18 11:23 AM

Who lands a plane with a tail wind?

lrziprisJoined: 04 Mar 2004
Posts: 411
Location: Doylestown, PA

7/31/18 11:39 AM

Maybe I should have used a smiling-face emoji. ;)

In any event, I have one out & back ride where the headwind seems to shift 180º just as I reach the "out" point and begin the ride back. Hence, my quip.

SparkyJoined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 16861
Location: Portland, OR

7/31/18 12:48 PM

Have had to on a few occasions. Answer, nobody if they don't have to.

Steve B.Joined: 19 Jan 2004
Posts: 705
Location: Long Island, NY

7/31/18 1:02 PM

Not uncommon on a nice July day to have a N wind in the morning, especially if a front has moved in and it's cooler and less humid. Only place for me to go on Long Island at some point I'll be heading north into the wind. Then and if I time it right, I turn after 1-1/2 hrs or so and now I've got the sea breeze coming in, so head wind heading home. Zero hills though so I don't complain.